Dressed for Success

I realized that I never did share with you how I became involved in Dressed for Success. Let me share:

It was on a Wednesday morning on my way to Heartstrings, the last study before summer break. As I'm driving down the road and thinking about all the problems in my life and how they seemed to be one right after another...my marriage, house payment, gas/electric bill, price of gas, I also remembered that I would soon have to buy my oldest son summer clothes ( his can be passed down to the middle brother). So I proceeded to tell God just what I thought about all this stuff going on in my life and how unfair I thought is was.

God was very kind in letting me rant and rave half way to Rock Island, until he literally stopped me dead in my tracks, and so softly asked me to look at my blessings. He asked me to look at all the things that he has provided for my family, and reminded me that some parents don't have a car to drive, some families don't even have homes, and some children wont even get hand-me-downs to wear. And to be perfectly honest, at the risk of seeming cold hearted, I shrugged it off, maybe even in thinking that I deserved and worked for what I had.

So I get to Heartstrings and sure enough as God would have it, the lesson was on giving extreme. The kind of giving that no one can understand, the kind that people scratch their heads and think "why are you doing that?". So needless to say, I felt an overwhelming sense of conviction through the entire study.

Now on a typical morning at our table we are all chatty, and for this being the last one for the summer you would think that we would have a lot to say, but, we all sat there silent. To me it felt like 20 minutes of quiet but, it was probably only about 2 minutes, and that is because the whole time I sat there in silence all I could hear was Gods soft voice telling me to share what was laid on my heart, to share our conversation on the way there, to share my convictions. So, I did. One of our pastors wife sits at our table and in complete shock, told me that one of the ladies in the office at the church had a similar "vision"(if you will) from God and told me that I had to meet her. I walked over and met Amanda, we got together, and Dressed for Success was born.

Today, after a lot of hard work, we got to hand out clothes to children who needed them. We went to Monroe school on 4th street in Davenport. 96% of children enrolled in Monroe are at or below poverty line. That number breaks my heart. We had 100 children come through and get an outfit, sock and underwear. Of course I wished for a bigger turn out, but I believe we helped the families that were needing it the most. I believe that God used us for a great purpose and that He will continue to bless this ministry.

Here is my conviction and my inspiration:


3While he was in Bethany, reclining at the table in the home of a man known as Simon the Leper, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, made of pure nard. She broke the jar and poured the perfume on his (Jesus) head.
4Some of those present were saying indignantly to one another, "Why this waste of perfume? 5It could have been sold for more than a year's wages and the money given to the poor." And they rebuked her harshly.
6"Leave her alone," said Jesus. "Why are you bothering her? She has done a beautiful thing to me. 7The poor you will always have with you, and you can help them any time you want. But you will not always have me. 8She did what she could. She poured perfume on my body beforehand to prepare for my burial. 9I tell you the truth, wherever the gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her."
Mark 14:3-9


It was her giving that is beautiful. Her love, her faithfulness...she wasn't concerned what others would think, she was giving only to please Jesus, nothing was wasted to her. I think that if she had another jar she might have even washed his feet with it.